Echo Online 2

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  “Well… now you know.” Jane weakly giggled after just barely managing to smile at me.

  “That I do.” I said with a smirk before squeezing her ass a little tighter, which turned out to be enough to exhaust her arms and make her lay on top of me.

  Not complaining at all, opposite actually, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t amusing.

  Her soft breasts grinding against my chest, her gasped breaths warming my neck, and her seemingly unrelenting stamina were starting to prove to be too much, though, judging from her quivering thighs and the tightness I was starting to feel around my cock, I wasn’t the only one getting close.

  And that’s when, as was starting to prove to be a bit of a pattern for me, I panicked.

  “Condom.” I managed to utter as Jane hit her max speed.

  “What?” Jane asked breathlessly.

  “Condom,” I repeated, “I’m not wearing-”

  “I’m on the pill.” Jane interjected.

  “But… you and Sam are-”

  “I’ll explain after,” Jane interrupted again, going as far as to lift herself back up and put her hands on my chest again, “for now, let me focus.”

  Truth be told, I kind of wanted answers before I finished, but her confidence was enough to put my mind at ease.

  Well, that, and the fact that I was once again graced with the image of Jane’s amazingly perky tits bouncing.

  “Can you grab them?” Jane asked, noticing my staring, “They’re really distracting.”

  “I… Yeah, yeah.” I quickly replied, moving my hands from her ass to her breasts, successfully managing to maneuver under her arms without throwing her off.

  Despite what I’d thought when she was laying on me, her breasts were actually kind of firm, although that wasn’t too surprising given the fact they didn’t really bounce all over the place as much as they jolted and jiggled.

  Fun to look at, not so fun to experience.

  Besides, they were way more fun to hold, especially seeing as with each tentative squeeze I was able to draw Jane closer to finishing, her thighs tensing around mine spurring me to do my best to push up into her.

  “Swap with me.” Jane demanded, her head thrown back.

  “What?” I asked confusedly.

  Having apparently used the last of her verbal energy giving her first order, Jane quickly moved my hands to her hips and, with near-lightning speed, grabbed her still mid-jolt breasts.

  “Fucking Hell…” Jane moaned, leaning back as far as she could while I did my best to keep her from falling off me and the bed, “Don’t stop…”

  I was briefly confused by that, given the fact I wasn’t doing much of anything, but my brain was far from the priority list for blood at that moment as Jane tightened around my twitching cock.

  “I’m cumming…” Jane gasped desperately, almost doubling over as she did, “Oh, fuck yes, I’m cumming!”

  And just like that, my body was rocked with a violent shiver as Jane clenched around me, I pumped into her, and she let out a long, loud cry of ecstasy with a smile curling at the edges of her open mouth.

  Without trying to give her too much credit, I was genuinely concerned that if Jane had cum or rode me any harder, I would’ve needed penile corrective surgery.

  “You good?” I asked as I caught my breath, giving myself a bit of déjà vu on top of my spotty vision.

  “Y-yeah…” Jane stammered out with a quiet giggle, her hands still on her breasts as her whole body quivered like she’d just been pulled out of the bay, “I’m good.”

  “Are you sure, though?” I laughed, “You look kind of… jittery.”

  “I’m fine.” Jane replied more assuredly, nodding a little as she climbed off of and immediately collapsed next to me, “Well, except for the fact that I’ve been missing out on that.”

  “Right?” I huffed amusedly, “I really should’ve come around and been more neighborly when you first moved in.”

  “Ah, what could’ve been.” Jane half-jokingly sighed before rolling onto her side and propping herself up with her elbow, “So, I feel like I should explain the whole pill thing.”

  “Yes, do.” I replied, shuffling up and away from the wet spot, “I mean, I was going to go get washed off, but this first.”

  7

  I was expecting a few things from Jane’s explanation, ranging from her being bisexual and having considered the possibility of a third person in the bedroom to just liking the pattern of it.

  Turns out that it mostly had to do with acne and making her periods easier to deal with, information that was, yes, slightly uncomfortable at first, but also made me feel like we could very genuinely talk about anything.

  I could’ve just attached too much importance to her telling me it gave her a smoother and more regular flow, but still, it left me with a pretty solid case of the warm and fuzzies.

  Now that I’ve said that, I can see that it sounds weird.

  Anyway, pushing past that, I got to have a second morning shower for the first time in years and, after explaining I would need to suck on a bull’s adrenal gland or something to go again, got dressed and went downstairs with my laundry and the bedding.

  Thankfully, most people in the building had already gone to work, leaving me to haphazardly shuffle downstairs looking like the linen version of Majory the Trash Heap without the risk of committing manslaughter by either smothering or falling.

  Despite all my focus being on not tripping over, I have to admit that I did briefly pause in front of Carl’s door, wondering if he’d stayed home and if I should check on him, a thought process that was quickly forgotten when I noticed how close the wet spot was to my face.

  “And… done.” I announced, dumping the dirty clothes and bedding on the concrete floor of the building’s basement laundry, thinking I was alone.

  I was wrong.

  “Laundry day?” Kelly asked from where she stood over one of the six washing machines that lined the wall.

  “Yep,” I replied, surprisingly managing to keep my composure, “I like getting it done when the nine-to-fivers are out for the day.”

  “Wish I could do that.” Kelly halfheartedly chuckled, adjusting her flannel pajamas as she did, “More often, anyway.”

  “Yeah…” I trailed off, failing as I usually did to maintain a halfway decent conversation with her before moving my pile to the first machine, “Why are you off? Sick?”

  Kelly shook her head and forced a smile, “Just needed a personal day.”

  “Oh,” I replied, for some reason only then remembering that Carl basically used Kelly as a mother, “I take it Carl’s home?”

  “Nope,” Kelly said with a click of her tongue, “he’s at work. Wasn’t going to let him miss another shift.”

  It was clear that she was frustrated, though I didn’t know who with.

  “Sorry about last night,” I practically blurted out, ignoring my brain’s plea to pretend it didn’t happen, “I shouldn’t have reacte-”

  “Don’t even worry about it,” Kelly interjected, waving me off as she did, “way I see it, it was a long time coming.”

  Naturally, I was kind of thrown by that.

  “You seem surprised.” Kelly chuckled as I went on packing my laundry.

  “I just…” I trailed off, feeling like I was on a tightrope where falling meant I’d break my rule about bitching to spouses, “I didn’t think you felt that way.”

  “You know him, Buck,” Kelly replied, an amused fire replacing the mildly dejected tone in her voice, “I love him, no doubt about that, but I swear that man… Ever since that game came out, it’s just accentuated all the crap that was already there.”

  “You’re really going all out with this, huh?” I laughed after finishing packing my first load and moving to another machine with the rest.

  “What do you mean?” Kelly asked, shifting towards me a bit as the sounds of two machines started to block our voices out.

  “Just feels a bit weird complaining
about my friend to his wife-to-be.” I said with a shrug and a smirk, “You know, this being our second proper conversation and all.”

  “I get that,” Kelly sighed, “but, to be honest, I’m starting to rethink that ‘wife-to-be’ part.”

  That threw me off a teensy bit more than the first thing.

  “Really?” I asked, my smile disappearing in an instant.

  “Yeah,” Kelly replied with a nod, “things haven’t been great between us, and I know he’s keeping stuff from me. I’m not saying he’s cheating, but I’ve hit that point where I wouldn’t be completely surprised if he did.”

  For a moment I was silent, not because I didn’t know what to say, but because I felt like ‘me neither’ weren’t exactly the words she needed to be hearing at that moment.

  “Sorry, I shouldn’t be dumping all this on you.” Kelly apologized, “Hate to be that person, it’s just that I don’t really have that many people to talk to outside of Facebook and work, and the last thing I want is my boss knowing about how crappy my personal life is at the moment.”

  “I can respect that.” I muttered, once again wondering just how bad things were going to be with Peter when I next went into work, “Look, you don’t need to apologize. Truthfully, I’m mostly just surprised that you’d pick me of all people.”

  “Name one other person in this building.” Kelly scoffed.

  “Jane and Sam,” I replied, earning me a surprised look from Kelly, “I’m actually seeing them.”

  It was in that moment that I’d realized I’d made something of a blunder in being the first person to go public in the relationship.

  Hell, as far as I was concerned it was best when no one went public, but I was quick to give myself a break.

  It was just Kelly, after all.

  “Them?” Kelly asked after a few seconds, “As in both of them?”

  “Mmhm,” I said, pretending I wasn’t wishing I could backtrack, “they’re really nice people.”

  “I imagine they are.” Kelly huffed before widening her eyes and shaking her head, “Not that there’s anything wrong with what… that, I just meant that maintaining a relationship with one person can be too much for some people.”

  “Weirdly enough, it’s one of the easiest and best relationships I’ve ever been in,” I replied, immediately feeling strange at how easily I’d opened up, “although, that might just be because I’ve been able to hop onto an already moving train. Anyway, back to you and Carl.”

  “Not going to say I don’t enjoy being given the opportunity to avoid making a further ass of myself, but don’t think for a second I don’t have more questions.” Kelly said, smiling broadly.

  “We’ll have you over some time, talk about the gritty details,” I half-joked, “but seriously, you and Carl, you know he loves you, right?”

  I felt kind of guilty for ruining the mood, though at the same time talking about their whole situation seemed like the best thing to do in that moment.

  Listen to me, being all social and shit.

  “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” I said, “I’m only bringing it back up because you started it.”

  “How very mature of you,” Kelly replied, lightheartedly rolling her eyes, “but yeah, I know. Look, I think we just might be going through a bit of a rough patch, and because it happened to coincide with the release of Echo… Well, I can only imagine the strain it’s put on your new relationship.”

  “Not really,” I chuckled without thinking, “I honestly think it’s the only reason we’re so close.”

  “Oh…” Kelly trailed off, her little joke failing to land apparently being enough to break her heart, “I guess that-”

  “It might be that we’re playing together,” I interjected, realizing only then that what I’d said might not have been received very well, “it might help if you guys played together?”

  “You think?” Kelly asked, something in her voice suggesting that the thought had occurred to her, “I thought it was more of a thing for you and the guys from work to do together?”

  “Nope,” I replied with a smile, “in fact, we don’t even really play together anymore. I do my thing, and they… I guess if you want to find out, you’re going to have to play.”

  Kelly chuckled at that and nodded, “Alright, you don’t think he’ll mind though?”

  “Would you care if he started doing something you like?” I asked, following Kelly as she left the laundry.

  “I suppose if you put it like that it makes sense.” Kelly replied before shrugging and smiling, “No harm in it I guess, and if he’s a jerk about it…”

  “You’ll know what to do.” I finished, seeing both the pang of relief on Kelly’s face at not having to be the one to say it, “I seriously doubt it’ll come to that though. He can be a dick sometimes, but not that much of a dick.”

  “I refuse to believe that you don’t know that he can definitely be that much of a dick,” Kelly laughed meekly, “but seriously, thanks for the talk. Means a lot.”

  “No problem,” I said, nodding politely as we walked up the stairs at a surprisingly quick pace, “you can knock on my door any time. You know, unless I’m at work. Well, you can knock, but you’ll be waiting a while.”

  “Got it, don’t knock when you’re at work, wouldn’t have figured that one out on my own.” Kelly chuckled more confidently as we got to her door, “Anyway, again, thanks.”

  “And again, no problem,” I replied, accepting and reciprocating the offered hug, “and seriously, you guys should stop by some time, we’ll do a meal.”

  “A meal?” Kelly asked amusedly, “Not lunch or dinner?”

  “I like to give myself a lot of options,” I said as I continued up to Jane’s apartment, “might be a while before Carl wants to spend any sort of time with me, but I’m cool whenever.”

  “I’ll let him know,” Kelly replied before slipping into her apartment, “see you later.”

  “You too.”

  Have to say, it was really good to get another chance to talk to Kelly.

  She was pretty easy to talk to, and given how I wasn’t exactly laden with friends, it was nice to add another person to my list of humans that I didn’t actively avoid.

  Sure, it would probably mean dealing with an uncomfortable exchange with Carl at some point, but hey, it’s not like we were on the best of terms anyway.

  8

  After getting back to Jane’s and letting her know I’d managed to get everything loaded, I knocked over the typical errands I did on my weekends, finished drying the dishes Jane had washed, and ended up heading back to my place to play some Echo.

  Truthfully, I kind of wanted to stay at Jane and Sam’s, but at the same time I liked the idea of laying on a bed with sheets and giving Jane some space to get her work done.

  Plus I really like my pillows.

  Anyway, some shifting around and making absolutely sure I was going to wake up on my arm later, I finally managed to get hooked up and, with just as much ease as last time, dropped into Echo.

  Alcatraz was significantly quieter than when I’d left, almost barren in fact, but as I got outside to where I’d been shanked, I found someone I didn’t expect to still be on.

  “Hey, Sergei,” I said, pulling his attention to me as I stretched out my wings and flew down to him on the parade ground, “what are you still doing on?”

  “I only got back on a little while ago,” Sergei replied, “thought it would be a good idea to make sure no one had destroyed the rock in our absence.”

  “Thanks for that,” I chuckled after landing next to him with more force than I’d intended, “isn’t it really late in Russia though?”

  “Little bit,” Sergei huffed with a shrug, “but that’s when you’re supposed to play this game, right? Anyway, what brings you back?”

  “Same as you, I guess,” I replied, looking around to the still smoldering city, “didn’t have much else going on, figured I’d use my time productively.” />
  Sergei and I laughed at my little joke for a few seconds, which I think made us both realize we didn’t really have all that much to say to each other.

  Aside from the speech I’d pulled out of my ass, I’d kind of blown my idea wad on getting everyone over to the island, leaving me with shit all to talk to my partner-in-crime about.

  “So, where is everyone?” I asked, making the Orc jump.

  “Most of them are inside, didn’t want to get picked off by the Angels.” Sergei said, “Some were kind of… against changing over to the Damned Legion, but once they saw I’d done it with my boys, they changed their tune.”

  “No more Cheeki Breekis?” I chuckled, “That’s actually kind of disappointing.”

  “Eh, there will be opportunities to reopen that chapter after we’ve put the Angels in their place,” Sergei replied, “best thing for us to do now is unify under one banner. Plus, it means we can respawn here.”

  “I s’pose that’d be a pretty big selling point.” I half-joked, noting a particularly dark cloud of smoke settling over where a few buildings once stood.

  “Crazy how quickly they were able to tear all this down, huh?” Sergei trailed off before widening his eyes and turning to me with a smile, “Oh, the video, have you heard about the video?”

  “You’ll have to be more specific.” I replied amusedly.

  “Your speech,” Sergei clarified excitedly, “I had some people in the crowd film it, even got the part where you killed that assassin.”

  “I… Why?” I asked, turning to the grinning Orc.

  “Because I figured it might be good to get some attention,” Sergei explained, pulling out a phone as he did so, “and it worked! Within a couple of hours it managed to get a few hundred thousand views. Although, that may be because a lot of people were watching it in the game.”

  Unsurprisingly, his explanation just made me more confused, “Is it… Do people like it?” I asked somewhat abashedly, throwing both myself and Sergei off with my apparent meekness, “I mean, have we gotten slammed in the comments or anything?”